How to Overcome Chronic Procrastination

Yesterday, you promised yourself that you’re going to do it today, but here we are, and you haven’t! So what happened? What went wrong?

Well, the coffee breaks, the hours you spent checking your social media, that little stroll you took down the street with your buddies, the excessive preparation – that’s how you lost your focus.

Procrastination is a vice most of us have struggled with at some point in our lives. Research tells us that it all begins when you start viewing a task as unpleasant, boring, tough, or even painful. But the reason why procrastination is so bad is that you become less productive. The good thing is there are several steps you can take to overcome this vice – and boost your productivity.

Acknowledge it

The first step is to acknowledge – deep within – that you’re putting things off indefinitely. Some call it switching focus, but that’s only true when the task is really important such that it can’t be delayed. Once you’ve acknowledged that you’re procrastinating, think of the things you stand to lose out on if you don’t get it done in time.

Break it Down

Does the task appear enormous? Can you break it down into smaller chunks? If yes, just do it!

Short bursts of focused activity – even the ones that take just a minute of your time – can do wonders for your productivity. It’s through such bursts that you gain confidence and realize the task isn’t insurmountable after all.

Reward Yourself

Self-reward and punishments have been known to build good behavior. You can even tailor the reward to match the importance of the task at hand. The reward itself should be something you love. Something that gives you pleasure. Something you can’t wait to get your hands on.

Improve Your Mood

A bad mood can make the task appear bigger and more daunting than it actually is. And that’s because procrastination starts in the mind. To improve your mood, you can take short breaks and do something you love. But here’s the thing: keep it short! Otherwise, you’ll end up procrastinating again.

Having a tool that helps you schedule tasks in order of importance can help you overcome chronic procrastination. And that’s exactly what the BubblesPlanner app does.